


Whispers in the Dark

by espiritus



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: F/M, Family, Feels, Mac is straight-up nuts, experimental-ish, something or other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-17
Updated: 2017-05-17
Packaged: 2018-11-01 07:59:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10917645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/espiritus/pseuds/espiritus
Summary: The year is 2317, 30 years after the events of the original storyline: Von is dead, Mac is old, and Duncan MacCready-now a grown man with a wife and children of his own- has taken up his beloved Miss Olivia's mantle as the General of the Minutemen.





	Whispers in the Dark

**Author's Note:**

> although it definitely could be, this is not canon with the previous storyline; just an idea i'm messing around with. let me know what you think!
> 
> (duncan's wife, erin, is one of the kids in mr. zwicky's schoolhouse in 2287- they would have been classmates when duncan lived with cait in diamond city.)

Spectacle Island, 2317: 

I visited Miss Olivia's grave today. I know she wasn't my real mother. But she was the closest I had to one, and she acted the part- read me stories, kissed me goodnight, and sent me a handful of caps every week for 'expenses' when I went to live with Auntie Cait in Diamond City. And she was so good at it that I often wondered why she never had any children of her own: maybe she couldn't, or maybe she thought one of me was enough- Atom knows I was a rambunctious little bastard. I gave her and Dad hell, so it's little wonder they never had any more kids. Dogmeat was the closest I had to a brother or sister, and that suited us just fine.

Her grave stands in the yard, stoic and proud as any tree in the Commonwealth... as Miss Olivia herself. It was only at her funeral that I found out she'd been around since before the war: she had a family, a husband and son, both of whom had died- explained a lot about how she treated Dad and me, even if she never spoke about her life before the bombs. She was probably trying to forget and, now that I'm older than she was when it all happened, I don't blame her a bit. 

I sit down on one of the benches and just stare at it, trying to remember what she looked like as the words etched in stone seem to carve themselves into my skin.

_General Olivia "Von" MacCready_  
_Protecting the people at a minute's notice._

_2048-2077_  
_2287-2307_  


_War Hero, Devoted Wife & Mother_

Can't believe it's already been ten years since the Prydwen attacked the Castle. Damn Brotherhood bastards conveniently forgot that the Minutemen had been their allies in the war against the Institute, but that tyrant Maxson probably had his own agenda all along. I'm glad he's dead, though I wish he hadn't taken so many innocent people with him.

I still remember every detail of that morning- what the air tasted like, the colour of the sky... how she gave Dad and I each a kiss goodbye before taking a boat across the river to aid in the fight. He told her to be careful, to make sure she made it home safe; it was the last time either of us ever saw her alive.

Lieutenant Garvey showed up a week later to give us the news. Miss Olivia was dead- she'd jumped in front of a crashing vertibird to save her team and was killed instantly. It was quick and painless, he assured us- she didn't feel a thing, and she died a hero. Dad went berserk, nearly punched the guy's face in; I had to separate them before he hurt himself or killed someone. It wasn't until later that the reality of it hit me- I held Dogmeat as tightly as I could and cried until Auntie Cait came to take me back to Diamond City. She offered to bring Dad along, but he said no, he wanted to be alone. I could hear him screaming as we left, and it haunts me even now. 

Auntie Cait isn't my biological aunt either- she was Miss Olivia's best friend, and they considered each other sisters because, like me, neither of them had any siblings. But I spent many years with her in Diamond City, both as a kid and later, when I left home. I paid her a hundred caps a month in rent while working odd jobs for Valentine's Detective Agency; Nick had recently hired Erin, who I'd gone to Mister Zwicky's school with many years before, as his secretary, and the two of us soon fell in love. We were married at the All Faiths Chapel as soon as we found out she was pregnant, and our twins were born just a few months later. Then, I received a letter from Lieutenant Garvey, asking me to assume Miss Olivia's role as General of the Minutemen, and I couldn't turn it down. My way of honouring her legacy, I guess. So we- Erin, our newborn twins, and I- returned home to Spectacle Island, which brings us to now.

I can hear Dad talking to himself in the next room. I haven't spoken to him in the ten years since Miss Olivia died- you could say he lost his mind that day, though that's a bit of an understatement. Most days, he doesn't even know who I am, though I'm not sure if it's age or trauma that's caused his mental faculties to decay. On a scale from one to Children of Atom, he's just slightly more competent than a feral ghoul; you may think that's an exaggeration, though I assure you I've seen radroaches with more fight than what's left in him.

Of course, he's my father, and I still love him, though he doesn't always make it easy. Maybe I should have stayed, and he would have been himself again in time. But, whether it's my fault or not, it is what it is: he spends most of his days in a fog, though he seemed to come out of it briefly as soon as he saw the twins.

"Nathan and Lucinda," he'd said, gripping my arm so tightly that I thought it might fall off. "Their names are Nathan and Lucinda."


End file.
